transformers2005fandomcom-20200215-history
Talk Radio
If breathing was something she was required to do, Chromia would be taking a deep one right now to center herself. Instead, her internal processors take a moment to reset themselves as she finds that, yes, this is the right decision that she has made. There have been requests made but bots be busy - there is a war going on. Now, however, the time has been made manageable and Chromia has come to Jazz's office for a meeting. One that she has requested. The reasons? They haven't been explained since they are rather personal. Chromia doesn't hesitate as she approches the door. If it's open, she walks in. She's supposed to be here after all! If not, she'll signal she's here and wait to be let in. She stands at attention, loosely, but still. This is a superior officer and one she's meaning to ask a favor of. An odd one, a personal one, but one she's found to be necessary as of late. "Sir. Thank you for seeing me." She considers and then slackens her stance a little more. "May I speak informally? This isn't related to the ... Well, it is, but not in a tactical way." You will no longer hear messages on channel . "Girl, if you don't call me Jazz..." That's right, the Intelligence Director is sitting as informally as possible right about now. He's leaned back in the chair behind his desk, feet propped up on the desk itself. There are music videos playing on the huge screen across the room and he's got a stack of holo-files on his desk that he's kind of going through. He tosses the latest one aside the moment that Chromia crosses the threshold of his office and is turning towards her with a big ol' smile. Somehow, it's already on the verge of being reassuring. Because Jazz gets paid the big bucks (not really) to be able to read the Autobots. So that's what he's doing. "One sec." He holds a finger up and presses a button on his desk. "Yo, Bee. I got these files done. Can you come grab 'em and take 'em to Prowl for me? They need a second insignature. You rock." Jazz isn't even sure if Bee's available but he's making sure to thank him prior anyway. Appreciation goes a long way. And now his attention is fully on Chromia. "Alright, I'm all yours, Chromia. Lay it on me." Yup. Informal has Casual Friday. Bumblebee steps in after Chromia, grinning up at her. "Hey, Chromedome." He pauses. "That's not a nickname that can work. I'll think on it." He winks at her, and pulls the files from Jazz's desk, tapping the side of his head with them. "You got it, Meister Mech." Chromia is stiff because, well, she's unsure. What she's here for isn't something that is commonly done, especially not by her. She's not as steady, not as comfortable, since she is very much out of her element here, at least in her own headspace. Plus it seems like the appropriate counteraction to have to Jazz's... sloppy nature. He's certainly no Elita One. What a loose, messy ship he must run! Chromia reminds herself that Arcee works with this bot so there should be a reason. Arcee trusts Jazz, she should too, and that's why she's here. "Actually, if you are sending files to Prowl, I can..." She stops though as Bumblebee enters. He's little, he's fiesty and she sure can appreciate that but... She looks behind her to see if someone else has been standing there. Was this meeting double booked? "He's not there," she indicates dryly to the space behind her, clearly not getting it as she fails to see Chromedome there. "As I was saying, if you need files to go to Prowl, I can take them." She is newly minted as his assistant. She's kind of Bee's potential secretary buddy. "Jazz," she corrects herself. "I was hoping that I could ask you for something unconventional." That's what Jazz does best, right? "There's something I have put off for many years now that..." She stalls out. It's not easy for her, facing her emotions, especially when she's not sure what she should think. Elita's condition has made her reflect on a lot these last lunar cycles. "You knew him too," she says without trying to sound too bitter but... she totally souns way bitter. "He left with you. And you," she nods to Bee as well, "And I never..." She stops again. Maybe she needs to re-reset her processors. "You knew Orion best," she thinks, "and he was committed to him too." She frowns, unable to really express the question she's fumbling towards. Jazz is listening and attempting to catch up to whatever it is that Chromia is trying to say. He's attempting to figure out what she's trying to say but there's a lot of fumbling and he's finding it difficult to keep up with whatever she's trying to say. Though, he doesn't really let it show on his features because he's more apt to attempting to see if he can figure it out. But it's going to take a little bit of doing, that's for sure. "I appreciate all the help I can get. From either of you. And that's real." Jazz makes sure that both Chromia and Bumblebee get to feel the love that he's throwing down right now. He jumps up out of his seat and spins around the desk, turning to lean back on it and he crosses his arms over his chest. He's just making sure that he's more approachable. Or he's trying to make sure that Chromia is feeling comfortable enough talk to him. He's clearly trying to be the helpful listener that he can be right about now. Whatever helps Chromia get through this. Jazz can't stand to see an Autobot down in the dumps or in a state of confusion. That's why he's as cool as he can be. To help others. "Orion?" Jazz makes sure his tone is soft enough to be heard as attempting to assist her with getting this out. "It's okay, Chromia. Trust and believe. This here office? Sanctum of Silence. Ain't nothn' you say in here goin' beyond these walls if you don't want it to. You got my word on that." He cracks an even more reassuring smile. "So you go right ahead and drop that bomb on me." Because he ain't getting what she's trying to lay down on him, dig? Bumblebee frowns a bit at Chromia's obvious distress, arms crossing across his chest. Prowl can wait. "What's on your mind, Chromia? We're here for you." There it is again: That stressful idea that the Ark crew is a group apart from the rest of the Autobots. After all, their mission cut of friendships, sacrificed goals, and ultimately pulled the war in an entirely new direction. He gives Jazz a glance, wondering if he ever feels that heavy. Chromia frowns. This isn't easy and she should just leave, let this sit for another four million years? She shakes her head, to no one in particular but herself. S he reaches up to rub at the servos in her neck because she's tense. Very. It's something she's held onto for a long, long time. Yes, Orion. She knew Ironhide and those around him enough to know Optimus before he was a Prime. She has been friends with Elita since their creation so... "He left. *You* left." Looks like Bumblebee was right. "I never got to say goodbye," she frowns. It sounds silly to admit it aloud, to put it into words when it's lingered so long as a feeling. "Either time," she frowns deeper. Ironhide fled to Earth but then also stayed there, died there. "I need to rectify that," she mentions bitterly. It's something she has to do and well, it's why she's here. "I don't know that I can go alone." To the mausoleum. She needs a friend, or at least a friend of a friend, to go with her. Someone that can maybe help her to understand. She does look up, to each of you, and her gaze suggests she can't quite forgive either of you for what you did, but she is trying to understand. Her friend Ironhide left her, now Elita might be as well, so she's got a lot to process. "I was hoping we could talk. Something. I just... I need to know, why it was more important to stay away than it was to come back." Cliques. Jazz doesn't particularly like those. And when he's kind of accused of being in one, he doesn't seem to get upset or anything. Instead, he just gets more comfortable on the edge of his desk and listens to Chromia's words. He's not about to interrupt her or anything close to that as the more he hears and finds out about, the more he can help with. It clearly will be something he's going to have to work at to rectify. "You're right, Chromia. You're absolutely right. One hundred percent." Jazz's words come with a tone that's even softer than before. A tone that belies just how much he's wanting to make up for what happened in the past. "And there isn't really anything I can say to make everything all good again. As much as I want to. But you're right. We left. We set out to do something and we didn't come back. And that, no matter what the reasons were, was wrong. And I could apologize until the cows came home but that wouldn't do a thing." Jazz tosses a quick optic glance in Bumblebee's direction, before his attention focuses on Chromia again. "But there's something you do need to understand. There is no such thing as 'more important'. There never was and there never will be. I could sit here all day and talk about orders, war, priorities but the fact of the matter is that where there's a threat to the freedom of those that cannot protect themselves, we will be there to fight it. To make it go away. To help. And that, that is why we didn't come back. Not because protecting others was more important than our Cybertronian heritage. But because, at the time, we had to do something to save Earth. If we hadn't stayed, I don't think any of us could've lived with ourselves." Jazz pushes off the desk at this point, standing up as tall as his short-self can manage. "I want you to know and understand something, Chromia. You are never alone. The Autobots are more than just a rag tag group of freedom fighters. We're a family. We're all in this together and we'll always be. And if you want me or Bumblebee or anyone else to escort you to the Mausoleum to pay your respects, then that's what we're going to do. People forget, because this is war, that sometimes it's not about winning or losing. It's about honor, respect, love. It's about caring about each other and protecting our own. And yeah, it's also about punchin' Galvatron in his head every chance I get." Jazz smiles, because what's a conversation with him without a joke or two. "But the truth is and will always be that there was not a moment spent away from you all that we didn't wish we could be back Home. And that's my word." Bumblebee is quiet for a few moments after Jazz finishes, looking for the words. "Optimus...Orion. He saw something that was too hard for the rest of us to see on our dying planet: a chance to save it. He left because he had hope, even when the rest of us didn't." He sighs. "And it shames me to say that I wasn't the first guy to stand up. Ironhide was. Maybe he didn't believe in the mission at first, but he believed in Prime. Optimus can only be as legendary as the loyalty he inspired, and...well, Ironhide made him a legend." His arms drop to his side, and he taps the data file against his leg a few times. "And then, when we woke up on Earth and found ourselves saving humans from Decepticons, Optimus saw something again- faith that another race was worth saving. Ironhide saw it, too." He nods a bit. "It...they're a lot to live up to. It's tough, you know? Having so much love for a legend. Seeing those statues. I'm with you, Chromia, if you need it." "I know why the Ark had to leave," she admits. Tactically, it's an excuse the whole planet pretty much blanketedly agreed on. It is logical, or was, to draw Megatron away from Cybertron, to try to allow it time to heal. Chromia looks to Bumblebee because, well, the little guy is right. Absolutely right. Optimus inspired loyality and Ironhide was perhaps the best at it, which is also in part what she is having a hard time forgiving him for even after four million years. She does want to argue with Jazz though, about the 'more important' because, well, that's the way she's left with it feeling. There was the cause, the mission, was became more important than the bots involved. What she and Ironhide bonded over was a mutual understanding, a willingness to help those around you even if they didn't ask for it. In the end, Ironhide chose to do what he felt like would achieve the most good and to this day Chromia still disagrees with that. It was *hard* being left behind. It's why Chromia is so loyal to Elita, who rallied them when that happened and fought on. Chromia's not sure any Arkian can understand what it was like. The sympaty though is not lost on her. She shakes her head and looks between the both of you. "We're not a family," she bitterly points out. "Not until all are one," right? "But... we do try our best," she sighs as she has to see the wisdom in that. The Cons bicker and fight while the Bots pull together. "We come close," she admits with a small smile. It sounds like a little but in Chromia's mind, it's a lot. "We're friends even if we disagree. That's our strength afterall, right?" Her smile brightens a little more. "I'd be glad for the company. I have avoided it for far too long. There is a part to Ironhide and others that I never got to know, or ever had a chance to understand. I saw what happened to Orion and I know how it changed Ironhide. Maybe I have held that against him all these years as well, kept him in my head as what he became versus what I knew him as. It's not fair," she admits as she sees that now. "I would really like to know what he was." To both of you. To the others. Ironhide is indeed a legend, one she once knew and then bitterly denied herself from getting to know. "That helps," she nods. Chromia had never considered that before but it makes a lot of sense. *That* is why Ironhide, and others, stayed away - because the humans needed them there. How could they abandon someone who needed help? Would she have been able to? No. "When you were activated again, when those first transmissions from Earth came through, it was a spark that was long missing." Faith, Bumblebee mentioned, was something to be found on Earth. Truth is, at the root of it, what Chromia is struggling with is the fact that she had given up on it returning. She found strength in Elita One. Then when the Arkians were back and didn't return that loss turned to resentment. "Sounds like we're all playin' the same song again. I'd call that a win." Whether he's talking to himself or Bumblebee or even Chromia as well, Jazz can't help but to make sure that he's including everyone in this room into the mix. He can't have any of his Autobots feeling like they don't belong or are too confused to continue. Sometimes, he really wishes the others could be programmed to be as calm and cool as he is about all this stuff. Emotions get in the way of victory. But he'll never knock anyone for their feelings. He deals with his in his own weird way. Usually, by dancing. "Chromia. We got you, girl. Believe that. Me, Bee, any of the Ark crew? We'll always be ready and willing to tell you anything you want to know. Ain't no secrets here." Jazz pauses. "Okay, unless you're Red Alert. But for the rest of us? We're all in this together, dig?" Jazz extends a fist outwards, as if preparing for some ultimate three-way dap party. "'Til All Are One."